Not Again
by Awesomo3000
Summary: What was going through Arcee's mind when Cliffjumper was terminated and then turned into a Terrorcon? Sequel to I Couldn't Save Him. Rated T.


**Hey, everyone, it's me again, Awesomo3000! And I'm back with a brand new Transformers story! :)**

**This one is another Arcee story (I can't help it, she's my favourite TFP Autobot! XD) and a sequel to my other story I Couldn't Save Him. This one's based on the first two episodes of Transformers: Prime, Darkness Rising: Part 1 and Darkness Rising: Part 2 where her other partner Cliffjumper is introduced. And then killed.**

**Anyhoo, here it is! I hope you enjoy it, please read and review! :)**

The bright sun was ever-so-slowly beginning to sink into the hills in the distance, gradually turning the sky an orange-red colour. Birds tweeted from the trees by the side of the long stretch of road going over the hills. And speeding down the road was a red 1970 Dodge Challenger, leaving two trails of dust in its wake. But this car was no ordinary car; he was known as the Autobot Cliffjumper. And he was busy talking into his radio.

"So there I am, on the lookout." Said the red vehicle, obviously talking to someone, "When out of nowhere, these high beings light up my rearboot. And then it hits me: I'm illegally parked!" In another part of the USA, a blue shining motorcycle with silver rims was whizzing down a long strip of road cutting through a desert. The two-wheeled Autobot had a holographic driver sitting on the seat and gripping the handles.

_"Another_ parking ticket?" asked the exasperated motorbike, by the name of Arcee, into her own radio.

"Better." Her partner replied, "The boot."

"Big metal tyre clamp, impossible to remove."

"Bingo!" Cliffjumper said, "So the local poh-lice do their thing, and I let them get all the way down the block. That's when I kick off my new shiny shoe and… BANG!"

"New York's finest soil themselves." Arcee finished. Even though she couldn't see him, the femme could tell Cliffjumper was smiling in his vehicle mode.

"You know me, Arcee." He responded, "You mess with Cliffjumper…"

"And you get the horns." she finished for him, referring to the bull horns on the front of his bonnet. Cliffjumper laughed in reply.

"Not sure how that complies with Autobot Rule number 1: Keep a low profile." The femme said sternly.

"What can I say?" replied the muscle car coolly, "Patrolling for Energon out here in Dullsville gets lonesome. Almost makes me miss the Decepticons." He was referring to their enemies, the same species as them but a different side altogether.

"Like Jasper, Nevada's a party?" asked Arcee jokily, "We're alone wherever we travel on this rock, Cliff." Her partner was about to reply until a beeping yellow dot on his holographic screen suddenly appeared. The screen then showed a birds-eye map, revealing a yellow pulsating area, slowly getting closer.

"I'm getting a signal." Cliff said.

"Need backup?" asked his partner. The red Autobot smiled to himself in his car form.

"Do I _ever_ need backup?" came the confident reply. With that, Cliffjumper's front tyres spun sharply to the left and the red vehicle turned off the road towards the disturbance. He kept driving down the dusty path until he skidded to a halt. In front of him was a huge bowl-shaped canyon filled with tonnes of big sharp blue crystals jutting out of the rocky ground and walls.

"I just found a whole lotta Energon." Cliffjumper said proudly, his V8 engine still purring. Just then, a humungous shadow slowly loomed over him and the canyon, making the ground tremble slightly and the trees shake. But it wasn't a cloud. Transforming swiftly into his short bulky robot mode, the Autobot looked up at the sky. Hovering above him was a gigantic metallic vessel with loads of long sharp wings pointing out of the edges. This was the Decepticon's warship known as the _Nemesis_.

"Decepticons." He muttered to himself. As he stared at the giant ship above him, he failed to notice one of its gun turrets folding out from underneath its hull and firing a blast of red energy at him. The blast detonated on the ground at Cliffjumper's feet, blowing him into the air and down into the canyon. He landed with a crash by a couple of giant Energon shards sticking out of the ground. Shaking off the pain, the red Autobot looked up at the ship above him. Underneath it, a hatch split open and ten metal figures jumped out and landed on the edge of the canyon, glaring down at Cliff as he stood up. They had purple paint with silver metal battle masks, each with a single thin red eyepiece for seeing. They were the Decepticon drones known as the Vehicons.

"Arcee," Cliff said quietly into his radio, "About that backup…" He then glared up at the ten Vehicons as they all grouped together and readied their weapons.

"Fair warning, boys." The red Autobot muttered, "I'll put a few dings in ya." With that, quick as a flash, he transformed into his muscle car form and sped up the sloping side of the canyon. Shooting over the edge and into the air, Cliffjumper then changed into his robot mode and, his fist clenched, landed with a slam on top of one of the Vehicon drones, pounding his head into the ground. One of the drones ran at him, his arm cannon at the ready, but the Autobot quickly grabbed his cannon arm and spun him around, finally throwing him down the side of the canyon. Cliff then kicked the first one he had beaten into the canyon with him. The muscle car swung his fist at one Vehicon but he easily dodged the punch. As Cliffjumper stood up, one of the drones sneaked up behind him and elbowed him in the back. He cried out in pain as the drone then pushed him toward one of the other Vehicons, who kicked him square in the chest. As Cliff turned around, clutching his chest, another Vehicon swung his clenched fist at his face.

The blow blew the Autobot backwards and into the canyon with the two other defeated Vehicons. He landed with a crash but quickly jumped back onto his feet. As the remaining Vehicon drones leapt down into the canyon to face him, Cliffjumper quickly realised that the Vehicon's punch had knocked off one of the horns on his head. That settled it.

"You want the horns?" he called to the drones, changing both his hands into his triple barrelled plasma cannons, "You got 'em." With that, Cliff aimed at the Vehicons and fired blast after blast at them furiously, one of the shots blasting a Vehicon into the rocky edge of the canyon. His opponents then retaliated by firing their own arm weapons at the Autobot. Still shooting at them, Cliff jumped around, dodging the blasts, causing them to hit the Energon shards behind him.

Big mistake.

Cliffjumper cried out in pain as he, along with the Vehicons, were engulfed in a cloud of blue energy from the exploding Energon. The cloud rose into the sky, almost touching the hull of the ship. As the smoke began to slowly clear away, two of the Vehicons that had survived the huge blast trudged out of the canyon, dragging behind them a very battered and bruised Cliffjumper.

On the Decepticon ship, one of the Decepticons, the second in command to be precise stared out of the holographic screen projected in front of him, watching the Energon explosion cloud slowly die away. He narrowed his red optics in anger.

"The Energon, it is worthless to me now." He muttered furiously. Starscream then turned around when he heard the whirring of the lift from behind him. The two Vehicon drones dragged the injured Cliffjumper along the long deck towards him, and stopped when they were directly in front of him. Cliff weakly looked up, still missing his right horn.

"Scream… it's been a while." He said, referring to the time he and Arcee had encountered him on Cybertron before arriving on Earth. He then coughed up a bit of Energon.

"So… where's your master?" he asked. Starscream glared down at the red Autobot, knowing he was talking about Megatron, the leader of the Decepticon cause.

"Never mind him!" Starscream replied, waving his arm in dismissal, "I am my _own_ master." With that, the second in command pulled back his right arm and striked. Cliffjumper cried out in agony as Starscream's sharp long claws pierced his chest.

"Any more questions?" asked the Decepticon sarcastically, digging his claws deeper. The Autobot just stared at him for a moment before looking down at his chest. Starscream, sneering, retracted his talons from Cliffjumper, leaving behind a huge puncture in the left side of his chest which was leaking Energon, dripping to the floor. Then, his life leaving his spark completely, Cliffjumper dropped to his knees, fell to the floor and lay there. His blue optics flickered once, twice before fading to black.

"Clean that up." The second in command ordered, gesturing to the puddle of Energon slowly growing bigger on the floor.

0o0o0o0

Just as the Nemesis soared away out of sight, a green swirling Groundbridge portal opened just above the ground next to the destroyed canyon. Then four metallic beings came through.

The first one was a white and orange ambulance, the Autobot medic Ratchet, that drove through the portal. Then a green offroad vehicle, known as the Autobot Bulkhead, shot out, followed by the blue motorbike, Arcee, then a yellow and black muscle car, Bumblebee. Quickly, they all transformed into their robot forms and activated their weapons when they landed on the ground, in case of any attacks. Finally, a huge red longnose truck sped through the Groundbridge and out the other side, changing instantly into the tallest of the Autobots, Optimus Prime. The Autobot leader converted his right arm into his ion blaster and cautiously looked around in the canyon.

"An untapped Energon deposit." Optimus said, folding away his weapon. The other Autobots followed suite.

"What's left of it." Bulkhead added, looking at the scattered Energon shards.

"First Decepticon activity in three years." Ratchet muttered.

"That we know of." Optimus replied, his battle mask folding away, exposing his mouth, "If they're scouting for Energon, they may be preparing for _his _return." Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Ratchet knew he was referring to their arch enemy, Megatron. They then cautiously followed the Autobot leader to the edge of the canyon, where Arcee and Bumblebee slid down the sides to get a better look. The blue femme looked around until she saw something and gasped in horror. There, embedded in the ground from where it had broken off, was Cliffjumper's horn. Gently, she reached down and picked it up.

"No." she whispered, staring at it and showing it to Ratchet and Optimus.

It couldn't be true, it couldn't have happened again. It just couldn't have.

Not again.

"Ratchet, can you track his position?" the Autobot leader asked the medic. He nodded in reply, a small square of metal on his arm unfolding to reveal a green screen with five yellow dots on the screen, the fifth far from the others. It turned red and beeped for a second before slowly fading away.

"No." Ratchet whispered in horror. He then turned to Optimus and solemnly spoke the horrifying truth Arcee hoped wasn't true.

"Cliffjumper's life signal… just went offline."

0o0o0o0

Later, all five Autobots were standing on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the sunset in the distance. They were all sadly taking in the fact that Cliffjumper, their friend, Arcee's partner… was gone.

"We must not allow our anger over the loss of Cliffjumper to impair our judgement." Optimus told his soldiers gravely, "As of today, only we five Autobots remain on this Earth. We owe it to ourselves. To the memory of Cybertron. To any Autobots in any galaxy seeking safe harbour. To humankind." While he spoke, Arcee sadly stepped forward, struggling to not let her tears fall. She then kneeled down and gently placed the horn of his terminated partner on the surface of the cliff.

"And we owe it to the memory of our fallen comrade." The Autobot leader finished, "To survive." Arcee slowly stood up and looked at Optimus for a second before turning to face the desert behind her, slowly walking to it.

"Arcee…" Optimus began, but he was interrupted.

"If Cliff's gone, standing around here sulking won't bring him back." She said, fighting back the pain and sadness in her spark. She had to be strong. For her comrades. For Earth.

For her partner.

"So unless anyone minds," she continued, "Think I'll get back to protecting humankind." With that, she swiftly transformed into his motorbike form and sped off into the distance.

0o0o0o0

The next day, at the Autobot base, the green holographic screen began to beep. Curious, Ratchet studied its newly found information. He then frowned as Cliffjumper's picture appeared on the screen next to his bio.

"Blasted Earth tech." he muttered, before turning to his comrades, including their new human ones, Jack, Raf and Miko, "Cliffjumper's life signal popped back online." Arcee's optics instantly widened in shock and interest as soon as the words left Ratchet's motuh.

"Who's Cliffjumper?" asked the human girl called Miko. Ignoring her question, Optimus stepped forward and asked the same question the other Autobots, including Arcee, were thinking:

"How is that possible?"

"It isn't." Ratchet replied, clearly annoyed with the monitor, "Another bug. The system's chock full of them." Ignoring him, Arcee turned to the Autobot leader, relief and hope gleaming in his blue optics.

"If there's any chance Cliff's alive…" Optimus nodded in reply, before looking at the Autobot medic

"Ratchet, prepare sickbay." He said, walking towards the long metal tunnel where the Groundbridge portal always opened, "We may need it." He then activated his battle mask which shot over his mouth, the other Autobots following.

"Hey!" called Miko, "What can we do?"

"Remain with Ratchet." Came the serious response. His command was met with a disappointed "aww" from the human girl, as well as an annoyed groan from Ratchet. Then the tunnel lit up and the Groundbridge roared into life, the portal swirling with green and purple energy, crackling with electricity.

"Autobots! Roll out!" Optimus called. With that, the human children watched in amazement as he, Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead all turned into their vehicular modes and sped through the Groundbridge, Arcee near the front. If her partner was alive, she had to see him again. And rescue him.

And no Decepticons were going to stand in her way.

0o0o0o0

In the main centre of the Energon mine, the Autobots all crouched behind the metal crates filled with the substance. They all fired their weapons furiously at the Vehicon drones either on the ground or up on the balconies. Arcee stopped firing for a moment and crouched down, looking over the edge of the crate. She scanned the area filled with blasts from Cybertronian weaponry until she spotted something up on the second balcony.

A familiar red arm hanging over the edge.

"It's Cliff!" she cried, "I have a visual!"

"We'll cover you!" Optimus called to her, "Go!" Without hesitation, Arcee leapt over the crates and sprinted across the battlefield, swiftly dodging the enemy fire while the Autobots fired for her. The femme then quickly changed into her motorcycle form and sped up the ramp to the first balcony. Two Vehicons blasted their cannon arms at her but the motorbike weaved with ease, avoiding the blasts. Arcee then sped up off the top of the ramp and converted into her robot mode, grabbed onto one of the pillars holding the balconies up. Then, like a professional acrobat, the female Autobot jumped, spun and leapt off the different parts of the wall and balcony, until she finally grabbed onto the edge of the second balcony and heaved herself up, relieved she had reached her partner. But what she saw next wasn't what she had expected to see.

There was the top half of Cliffjumper's body, lying there motionless and leaking Energon. Except instead of being blue, it was a strange _purple _colour. But that didn't matter; one question remained in Arcee's mind: If Cliffjumper's life signal had come back online, why was he dead in front of her? Maybe it was just a bug in the system.

Her horrified, sad and confused thoughts were quickly interrupted by two Vehicon drones on the upper balcony firing down at her. Instead, the blasts hit the piece of balcony Cliff's unmoving body half was lying on. Arcee watched in horror as the part of the balcony started to break away from the rest.

"Cliff!" she cried, leaping toward her partner's falling body. Quickly, she grabbed his hand just before he fell, holding him there as blasts of enemy fire whizzed in all directions around her. Optimus managed to shoot the two drones firing at her, loosening some rock from the wall in the process.

"Let's get you home, partner." Arcee called to her partner's body, a smile on her face. Just then, Cliffjumper's head started to move. Hope flew through Arcee's spark; Cliff _was _alive. But when he looked up at her, it wasn't a look of happiness or gratitude planted on his face.

It was a look of terror and mindlessness.

The Cliffjumper glaring at her, a wild beastly look in his now-purple optics, opened his mouth and let out a screeching roar. Horrified, the femme pulled back her head, crying out in shock. She tried to hold on, but the Cliffjumper-beast wriggled his hand wildly until she lost her grip.

Arcee, Optimus and the Autobots all watched in horror as the top half of Cliffjumper's body fell down, down, down, bouncing off the lower balcony and then falling into the huge pile of Energon shards below. Optimus looked up at Arcee who hung her head in shame, once again trying to fight back her tears. Her sad thoughts were then interrupted by a loud cackle. The four Autobots all looked up to see Starscream on the very top balcony, holding a strange device in his hand. It looked like a canister with four big metal claws around it.

"Prime!" he sneered down at the Autobot leader, "I'd stick around but I'm squeamish." With that, the second in command pressed a button on the canister, which opened up and started beeping, and dropped it down into the Energon pile with Cliffjumper's lifeless half. Starscream then took a leap off the balcony and converted into his jet form, blasting upwards out of the hole in the ceiling and into the sky, out of sight. The Autobots then realised that the device was a bomb.

"The joint's gonna blow!" cried Bulkhead.

"Autobots, roll out!" called Optimus. Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee, followed by the Autobot leader, instanted turned into their vehicle forms and sped away into the tunnel they had come from. As they did so, the bomb among the Energon shards finally stopped beeping.

And exploded.

It was a tremendous explosion that shook the ground, as the _Nemesis_ hovering above the mine flew away. The four Autobots sped down the dark, Energon covered tunnel, just metres ahead of the fiery blue explosion racing up behind them.

"Ratchet, Bridge us back!" cried Optimus into his radio, "Use the arrival coordinates now!" With that, the Groundbridge instantly opened up in front of them at the end of the tunnel. Quickly the four vehicles all thundered straight through the swirling green portal, just before the explosion could hit them. They all transformed and skidded to a halt as they just made it into the base. The three human kids all stared in amazement as Ratchet pulled down the switch by the computer and closed the portal.

"Cutting it a bit close." He said, before turning serious, "How about Cliffjumper?" Optimus, Bumblebee and Bulkhead all looked down sadly in reply, Bumblebee solemnly shaking his head in reply. Arcee, it appeared, was the Autobot most upset. She had thought her last partner was alive. But he wasn't. He'd looked at her as if he was her prey for him to kill, like he didn't know her.

Cliffjumper was gone.

For real, this time.

"What was that explosion? Was there a fight?" asked Miko excitedly, clearly not understanding the situation, "Can I come with next time?" Arcee snapped out of her sad thoughts and growled in anger, struggling to resist the urge to throttle the irritating human.

"Look!" she started to snap. But Jack quickly rushed in and took Miko's shoulders.

"Hey, hey, Miko, uh, let's go see what the Bots hide in their sock drawers." He said, guiding her away from the mourning Autobots. Optimus then turned his attention back to the traumatised Arcee.

"Arcee, what did you see?" he asked gently. Arcee remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"Not Cliff. At least, not anymore." She replied sadly, "He was mutated." She began to feel her tears rising as she continued.

"Butchered. Like something from those Con experiments during the war." She choked out. Just then, her legs became faint and she dropped to the floor, holding onto one of the crates for balance. She didn't realise the purple Energon covering Cliff's dead body had poisoned her body. Bumblebee beeped in alarm and moved forward, checking to see if she was alright.

"I'm fine." She said, putting up her hand in dismissal, "Just dizzy."

"Robots who get dizzy?" asked Miko quietly.

"Robots with emotions." Raf added.

"Robots… who can die." Jack finished.

**Well that's my TFP story! I hope you liked it, and same as always, please read and review! :) Poor Arcee, I feel sorry for her. :( She's so unlucky, always losing her partners.**

**Also, same as always, I have a new poll up on my profile! So please go and take a vote on it! :)**

**So, until my next Transformers story, Awesomo3000 out!**


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